oe 
THH AUTUMN SONG OF BIRDS. 411 
when it begins early in August ?), I can only regret that 
Mr. Aplin was here less careful than usual in expressing his 
meaning. Unfortunately for me, Mr. Aplin, while not in the 
least minding my attempting to correct him, found it impossible 
to believe that I had supposed him ignorant of the singing of the 
Robin and Starling early in August. But that is just what an 
ornithologist of repute might overlook. To take a similar 
instance: How many generations have observed the Swift! 
Yet, how many scientists will admit its night-flight as a fact ? 
The mimicry of wild Lark and Thrush: how long has it been 
admitted? It may be denied that the latter mimics the Crow or 
Land Rail, for its pipe is not suited to coarse cries; but its 
general mimicry is bound to be admitted sooner or later. 
The only previous letter I had received from Myr. Aplin 
described the wonderful mimicry of a bird which was carefully 
identified as a Sedge Warbler. But Mr. Warde Fowler told me 
that in the opinion of the listener the bird ultimately resolved 
itself into a Marsh Warbler. 
Returning to autumn songs. I heard the Wren and Robin 
nearly every morning from July 7th to August 15th; but not 
once the Chiffchaff. That bird has a true autumn song, though 
only one or two here and there indulge in it. 
As to the Willow Wren, I have made careful observations on 
every day but two from June lst to August 19th. Those two 
days were cold and wet, so probably there was then nothing to 
observe. In June and July I observed at morning and evening. 
My opportunities were easy. In front of my cottage is a small 
meadow, flanked on two sides by a dense thicket, so I have only 
to open a window to hear the birds. In the back garden I am 
within hearing of two other thickets. I pass three others on my 
way to the railway station, which I reach by nine o’clock. 
The Willow Wren has this interesting feature (due perhaps 
to pugnacity), that when one begins to sing, another will begin 
almost at the same moment; and when many are in song at the 
same spot, their successive descending songs make a sort of 
“chiming,” very sweet to hear. I do not know any other bird 
with this habit. In May the chiming can be heard all day. 
I am sending a copy of my notes to the Editor, and will here 
only summarize them. 
